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Group e-mentoring: A new approach to recruitment

into nursing
Beatrice J. Kalisch, RN, PhD, FAAN
Lisa Falzetta, RN, MS
Jacqueline Cooke, MS

In an effort to interest young people in the nursing the growth is still not enough to meet the demands of
profession, a unique approach merging mentoring the future.
with electronic communications was developed. This The interest in nursing as a career has declined for
program, Group Electronic Mentoring in Nursing many reasons. First, there are greater opportunities for
(GEM-Nursing), aims to educate and motivate young young people, especially women, in what is perceived
people, ages 15–21, to consider the nursing profession
to be more prestigious and higher-paying careers such
as their career choice. It links students with volunteer
as medicine, law, and business. The image of nursing is
nurse mentors across the country via e-mail and a
also a major problem. There are many misconceptions
Web site (www.gem-nursing.org). This article de-
scribes the process of creating and maintaining a
about what nurses do and what type of person should be
virtual community of nurse mentors and potential a nurse. A Harris poll revealed a lack of understanding
nurses. Group e-mentoring allows nurse mentors, lim- of the full scope of nursing roles. While 91% of the
ited in terms of their time and geographical location, public recognized that nurses monitor care and 69%
to provide advice, information and support to poten- that nurses provide counseling to patients, a lesser
tial nurses. It reduces the barriers of scheduling and degree of awareness existed that many nurses make
allows mentors to interact with many more students. diagnoses (34%), decide on treatments (23%), and
prescribe medications (14%).6 A survey of more than
1800 second to tenth graders revealed that most chil-

T
he shortage of nurses is a serious national concern. dren who are interested in the healthcare field wanted to
The US Department of Labor (USDOL) projects become physicians instead of nurses. Further, older
that there will be more than one million job students viewed being a doctor as a profession while
openings for registered nurses by 2012. For the first nursing was considered a technical field and a support-
time, the USDOL has identified registered nursing as a ive role. Most regarded nursing as a “girl’s job.”7 Still
top occupation in terms of job growth through the year another reason for a decline in interest in nursing is that
2012.1 Nurses taking the national licensure examination the public often hears about the stress that nurses
decreased by 20% from 1995–2003, and the shortage is experience and the shortage of staff in hospitals.
projected to intensify over the next 2 decades.2 Aggra- There are numerous recruitment efforts occurring in
vating this issue is the aging nurse workforce. The the public and private sectors. Federal legislation aimed
average age of the working nurse is 43.3 years.3 Only at attracting more individuals to the nursing profession
18.3% of nurses are under the age of 354 and 40% of all has been introduced or made into law, such as the Nurse
RNs will be older than age 50 by the year 2010.5 The Reinvestment Act, the Recruitment and Diversity Act
enrollment in nursing schools has increased some but of 2003, and the Nurse Loan Forgiveness Act of 2003.
On February 5, 2002, Johnson and Johnson began the
“Campaign for Nursing’s Future” in an effort to attract
Beatrice J. Kalisch is a Director, Nursing Business and Health Systems, individuals to join the field of nursing. Nurses for a
and Titus Distinguished Professor of Nursing at the University of
Healthier Tomorrow is a coalition of 41 nursing and
Michigan School of Nursing, Ann Arbor, MI.
Lisa Falzetta is a Project Coordinator, GEM-Nursing, and Lecturer, at healthcare organizations working to attract people to
the University of Michigan School of Nursing, Ann Arbor, MI. the nursing profession. On the community level, efforts
Jacqueline Cooke is a Regional Administrator, Region 1 at the Depart- include partnerships between universities and commu-
ment of Labor, Women’s Bureau, Boston, MA.
Reprint requests: Dr. Beatrice J. Kalisch, University of Michigan School
nity colleges in which community college students are
of Nursing, 400 N. Ingalls, Ann Arbor, MI 48108. accepted into higher education programs, nursing sum-
E-mail: bkalisch@umich.edu mer camps for middle school students, job shadowing,
and the development of resource manuals that provide
Nurs Outlook 2005;53:199-205.
0029-6554/05/$–see front matter recommendations on how to recruit young people into
Copyright © 2005 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved. nursing.
doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2004.12.005 One recruitment strategy that has not yet been

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Group e-mentoring Kalisch, Falzetta and Cooke

utilized in nursing is group electronic mentoring (e- due to the fact that GEM-HS dealt only with the nursing
mentoring). The definition of group e-mentoring is profession.
matching a group of experts with a group of learners
using a significant digital electronic component. It is the COMPONENTS OF THE PROGRAM
merger of mentoring with electronic communications The goals of the program are (1) to increase student
and has been termed telementoring, cybermentoring, or participants’ awareness of the benefits of working in
virtual mentoring. E-mentoring provides opportunities nursing fields and the career options within nursing, and
for mentoring prohibited by face-to-face mentoring (2) to increase the number of young people, ages 15–21,
programs, and offers a flexible communication environ- who select nursing as a career.
ment independent of time and space. In this program, mentors and mentees communicate
Group e-mentoring was determined to be a promis- by submitting questions and answers on the program
ing strategy for recruitment into nursing given the fact Web site—www.gem-nursing.org. The Project Coordi-
that we are living in an age of technology where the nator, located at the University of Michigan, has ad-
Internet ranks as a top information source, especially ministrative responsibility for the program. She reviews
among high school students. A Jupiter research study and edits each question and answer submitted and
predicts that there will be 47 million US teenagers and eliminates any inappropriate content and information
children using the Internet by 2005.8 A survey from that may identify students. She then compiles these
AOL finds that the Internet is now the primary com- questions and answers on a daily basis into one docu-
munication tool for teenagers.9 According to the UCLA ment that she sends out to each participant of the
Internet Report (2003), 97% of teenagers aged 12–18, program in the form of a Daily Digest. The Daily Digest
and 87% of young people aged 19 –24 use the Inter- is sent out through e-mail each day Monday–Friday,
net.10 excluding holidays, to every participant of the GEM-
Online mentoring programs have been utilized in Nursing program. The Project Coordinator is also
other disciplines and have been found to be a valuable responsible for updating the Web site content, monitor-
tool in promoting mentor-mentee relationships. For ing participation and evaluating the program.
example, since the mid-1990s, nonprofit organizations
such as iMentor, NetMentors.org and the International Recruitment/Selection of Mentors and
Telementor Program have been created to connect Mentees
students with working adults via the Internet. Similarly, Each region of the USDOL/WB was responsible for
the traditional mentoring organizations such as Big recruiting at least 60 students and 20 mentors for a total
Brothers/Big Sisters and the National Mentoring Part- of 360 students and 120 mentors. Currently, there are
nership have added online components to their pro- 561 students and 184 mentors. Students are in high
grams in order to increase participation by adults with school or college (ages 15–21), and mentors are nurses
limited time to commit to the effort.11 working in various nursing roles—staff nurses, ad-
In 2002, representatives of Shinae Chun, the Director vanced practice nurses, nurse managers—and in a
of the US Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau variety of clinical areas—medical-surgical, pediatrics,
(USDOL/WB) contacted the University of Michigan, community health, labor and delivery, etc.
School of Nursing to discuss the issue of the shortage of The method utilized to recruit students involved
nurses. The USDOL/WB had placed a special focus on partnering with organizations such as high schools,
the nursing shortage as part of its “Strengthening the colleges and universities, hospitals, state nurses’ asso-
Family” agenda. Also, they were currently funding a ciations, after-school programs, non-profit community
group e-mentoring program designed to attract women based organizations and faith-based organizations. The
into science, engineering and technology (GEM-SET— partner organizations are responsible for recruiting
Girls Electronic Mentoring in Science, Engineering and students (high schools, colleges, universities, after-
Technology).12 In the case of GEM-SET, women sci- school programs, etc) and mentors (hospitals, state
entists and engineers served as mentors to middle and nurses’ associations, etc). Students and mentors receive
high school students through e-mail and a Web site. a packet of information describing the program along
The USDOL/WB was interested in utilizing this with an application. The Project Coordinator processes
technology with nursing and awarded the University of the applications. Students under the age of 18 are
Michigan a contract to collaborate in the development required to obtain parental permission to participate and
and implementation of a group e-mentoring pilot pro- the student’s identity is protected. Mentors are invited
gram. It was called GEM-HS (Group Electronic Men- to submit a biographical sketch and a picture of them-
toring in Healthcare Services), and it ran 6 months in selves to be posted on the Web site.
one USDOL region. The success of the pilot program
led the USDOL/WB to continue and expand the project The Web Site
to 6 USDOL regions across the United States. It was The development of the GEM-Nursing Web site was
also decided that it should be renamed GEM-Nursing a joint effort between the GEM-Nursing staff and Web

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developers. It involved several iterations. A critical icy nurse, informatics specialist, entrepreneur, nurse
objective was the attractiveness of the Web site to the researcher, etc) and clinical specialty sites as well as
targeted age group as well as the usability by both sites that included a diverse representation of gender,
mentors and students. After a preliminary Web site was ethnicity and educational levels. On the left hand
designed, visits were made to high schools and middle column of this page are several links to important
schools by the Web developers. The original design of information. The first link explains what a student needs
the Web site was reviewed with these students and, to know about becoming a nurse such as requirements
based on this research, among the changes that were to get into a program, entry-level education and de-
made included brightening the colors, adding and en- grees, licensure, nursing as a second career, advanced
larging pictures, rearranging placement of the compo- degrees, certification, and continued education. The
nents, and the addition of more detailed content on second link, nursing careers, lists the many opportuni-
various nursing careers. The revised Web site was also ties and roles in nursing. The third link, the nursing job
reviewed by USDOL/WB Regional Administrators and market, describes the projected employment opportuni-
Program Development Specialists. The final Web site ties in nursing, and the fourth link, benefits and salaries,
was successfully launched on September 29, 2003. includes data on annual salaries of nurses by region of
The Web site contains the following sections: the the country. The fifth link outlines education and
Home Page, Welcome, About Nursing, Daily Digest, financial aid. It provides information on how students
GEM Community, Contact, Ask a Question, E-mail a can fund their nursing education and offers a database
Friend, Monthly Challenge, Mentor Spotlight, Career of scholarships in the public and private sector. The
Spotlight, Student Spotlight, and Nursing Videos. All of sixth link focuses on the history of nursing, providing
the pages of the Web site have attractive photographs of biographies of nursing leaders, a historical timeline
nurses that automatically rotate each time the Web site relative to the development of the profession as well as
is viewed. links to other historical sites. The final link is to nursing
activities that includes a section about nursing myths, a
Home Page quiz to find out if nursing is right for you, and
The Home Page is designed to attract immediate crossword puzzles.
attention. The text on the Home Page is changed at least
once a month, sometimes more often. Example Home The Daily Digest
Page content that has been selected includes Nurses’ Questions by the students with the corresponding
Week, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, answers of the mentors are posted daily on the Daily
Scholarships, Events, etc. The Home Page also high- Digest. An Archive exists where participants can search
lights a Welcome Letter from Shinae Chun, Director, for specific digests of interest. There is a search
USDOLWB. function on this page that allows participants to search
the digests for specific topics.
The Welcome Page
The Welcome page contains an orientation video by GEM Community
the Project Coordinator as well as the goals of the The next page, GEM Community, contains mentor
program, information on how to use the Web site, biographies and pictures. It lists the first name and last
frequently asked questions about the program, and a initial of the participating students by region of the
biographical sketch of the Project Coordinator. country. The students each select an icon to represent
them. A section on this page lists all of the partners
About Nursing along with links to their Web sites. Another section
The “About Nursing” section is one of the largest offers a place where students can access all their
components of the Web site. It starts with a short essay previous questions and answers.
on what nursing is and another one on what nurses do.
Links to professional and specialty nursing organiza- Other Components
tions, nursing publications, informational sites about The contact page lets the viewer know how to
nursing, schools of nursing, and government agencies contact the USDOL, various regional offices, and the
are also listed on this page. These links were carefully Project Coordinator at the University of Michigan. The
evaluated in terms of specific criteria such as type and “Ask a Question” page contains the form students
sponsor of the site, purpose (inform vs sell), content utilize to ask questions. The “E-mail a Friend” page
accuracy, completeness, tone, appearance, credibility offers a convenient place where a form can be filled out
and qualifications of the Web site source. An effort was by either the mentors or students to send an automati-
made to link to a wide range of nursing roles (eg, staff cally generated e-mail message about GEM-Nursing.
nurse, nurse executive, educator, legal nurse consultant, Other components of the Web site are the “Monthly
nurse midwife, nurse practitioner, forensic nurse, nurse Challenge” where a question is posted each month for
anesthetist, hospice nurse, nurse politician, health pol- the students. All who submit a correct answer are

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Figure 1. Topics of Student Questions

entered into a drawing at the end of month to receive a reviewing the data, it can be determined that the
prize. In the “Mentor Spotlight,” a different mentor is students are interested in working with babies and
featured every 2 weeks. The “Nursing Student Spot- children and in careers that have high salaries and
light” presents an actual individual nursing student— independence, such as as Nurse Practitioners and Nurse
their photograph, their biography, which may include Anesthetists.
information on why they chose nursing and what The second most popular category of questions relate
nursing school is like. The “Career Spotlight” high- to what nurses have experienced over the course of their
lights a different nursing specialty every 2 weeks. careers. Students want to know how it feels to be nurse;
“Nursing Videos” were developed by the GEM-Nurs- what emotions nurses experience and what causes these
ing staff and were also obtained from a government emotions. Example questions include: What is the
Web site provided by the Women’s Bureau. They focus hardest thing about being a nurse? Do you enjoy your
on responsibilities of nurses in the practice setting, job? What is it like to work with patients who are
nurse educators teaching nurses, nurses describing their dying? When you first started working were you ner-
professional experiences, and various roles in the vous?
healthcare industry. Another very popular topic is what a nurse’s day-to-
day activities are like. For example, questions in this
DAILY DIGEST ANALYSIS category included: What shifts can you work? How
Since the start of the Daily Digest on September 29, many patients do you have? What does a nurse do?
2003, the most popular questions have been related to Students have been interested in the authority of a nurse
specific nursing careers (See Figure 1). The most and which positions carry more authority than others.
popular nursing careers were the Labor and Delivery Predictably, students have asked how they can be-
Nurse and Nurse Midwife, showing the students’ inter- come an RN. They are interested in the years of school
est in working with babies. Other careers in order of it takes and the different degrees they can receive.
most questions asked were Nurse Anesthetist, Nursing Many asked what the difference is between a BSN
Assistants, Pediatric Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Prenatal (4-year degree) and an Associate’s Degree (2-year
nurse, ER nurse, Neonatal Nurse, Travel Nurse, OR degree) and if there is a difference in pay or respect.
nurse, Forensic Nurse, Flight Nurse, Psychiatric Nurse, Often, students asked about the different types of
Legal Nurse Consultant, and Nurse Researcher. In nurses in the profession. This shows their interest in the

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numerous career options that nursing has to offer. Many The number of participants in the program for the
times a student would know an area they wanted to first quarter (October–December 31, 2003) was 396
work in such as “working with babies” or “working students and 127 mentors. Both of these numbers
with amputees” and wanted to know the various types exceeded the goal for the program, which was 360
of nurses that worked with these specific populations. students and 120 mentors. In terms of the rate of
General questions about nursing school were also participation, 120 students or 33% asked at least 1
relatively common such as: What courses in school will question (some made numerous inquiries) and 57 or
I take? Is nursing school expensive? They were inter- 45% of the mentors answered at least 1 question. Of
ested in the demographics of people that attend nursing course, many students asked numerous questions and
school. many mentors answered numerous questions.
Students also expressed interest in how they can For the second quarter (January 1–March 31, 2004),
prepare for a nursing career while still in high school. 505 students and 176 mentors participated, thus further
Many wanted to know what classes they should take in exceeding the goal of 360 students and 120 mentors. In
high school that would help them get accepted into a this quarter, 30% of the students and 49% of the
school of nursing. A number of the students wanted to mentors asked or answered questions.
know how to go about getting internships or volunteer-
ing at hospitals while still in high school. Formative Data
The students also asked about specific healthcare In January 2003, regional staff hosted 3 “Listening
conditions. Some examples include: What causes sei- Sessions” in each of the 6 regions to ask students,
zures? What do you do to help a fractured tailbone? mentors, and partners for feedback on GEM-Nursing.
What treatments does a person with multiple sclerosis Approximately 22 partnering organizations, l75 stu-
get? These questions were answered by the mentors. dents, and 23 mentors participated in Listening Sessions
The students also expressed curiosity about what during November and December 2003. Sessions were
nursing schools have good reputations. Many have conducted with small groups at schools and organiza-
asked about specific schools in the area in which they tions, via conference calls, and through direct telephone
live. Other common questions relate to nursing salaries conversations, e-mails, and an interactive partner-spe-
and the nursing shortage. Because of media exposure to cific chat room.
this issue, students are interested in why there is a The Women’s Bureau partners gave the GEM-
shortage and what states are affected by it. Nursing Program very high marks. Many educational
Finally, there were questions asked less often in the partners reported making GEM-Nursing a part of the
following categories: classroom experience to augment curriculum. One re-
● Scholarships/financial aid gion, for example, reported “Fully 80% of the partner-
● How to become a doctor after being a nurse ing organizations attending the listening sessions re-
● LPNs ported that GEM-Nursing supported the programs and
● Men in Nursing teaching plans already in the classroom.” Partners
● The GEM-Nursing Program found the Web site “very user friendly” and “awesome”
● Why our mentors chose nursing with its rich variety of topics and resources. Several
● Qualities of a good Nurse indicated that the scholarship section was very popular
with students.
EVALUATION Students indicated that they like getting information
Single and Muller (1999) identify 3 types of data on line about nursing careers. They like the Daily
needed to evaluate an e-mentoring program—involve- Digest and the quality of the mentors’ answers. As one
ment data, formative data, and summative data. In- student put it “It’s better than a textbook—the Digest is
volvement data refers to the degree of participation of more understandable.” Regions reported that providing
the mentors and mentees in the program. Formative students a safe haven to “explore” nursing careers is a
data deals with the process of mentoring, such as great strength of GEM-Nursing. Several young male
perceptions of the effectiveness of the interactions students, for example, reported a newfound interest in
between the mentors and mentees. Summative data nursing as a result of seeing male nurse mentors as role
focuses on the outcomes such as the number of mentees models.
that choose to apply for admission to a school of Mentors were, by and large, very complimentary
nursing. about their experiences, with one mentor describing
GEM-Nursing as “a wonderful, innovative program.”
Involvement Data Mentors reported spending between 20 minutes–2
The number of hits to the GEM-Nursing Web site hours weekly reading and/or answering Digest ques-
from October 1, 2003–December 31, 2004 were 33,782. tions. Mentors characterized the students’ questions
From January 1–March 31, 2004, there were 35,462 hits from basic to insightful. As a mentor observed: “Even
to Web site. the entry questions are good because it shows that we’re

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reaching young people who are new to the field of urgency felt in face-to-face encounters to respond
nursing.” rapidly does not exist.
Still another outcome is that e-mentoring allows
mentors to interact with many more students than
Summative Data
would be possible in the traditional face-to-face set-
Although it is too early to have collected this
tings. It also allows under-represented minorities access
information, we have anecdotal reports that indicate a
to nurse mentors.
number of students have applied or plan to apply to
schools of nursing. When students were asked in one
region whether or not, as a result of GEM-Nursing, they NEXT STEPS
wanted to pursue a career in nursing, comments in- Additional research needs to be conducted which
cluded, “I have enrolled in nursing school for next compares e-mentoring with other approaches to re-
year,” and “I am planning on nursing school next year.” cruitment into nursing in terms of costs and benefits.
During a listening session in another region, 10 students Utilization of this approach with other potential
were asked, “Do you plan to become a nurse?” Five nurse recruits, such as people in other disciplines
said “yes” and 2 others indicated they didn’t know, but who might want to change careers, should also be
found nursing exciting. explored. The methodology of e-mentoring could be
applied to many other aspects of nurse recruitment,
retention and development such as encouraging
BENEFITS nurses to seek higher levels of education, assisting
Group e-mentoring offers a unique and potentially new graduates with their transition into the “real”
far-reaching approach to recruitment into nursing. world of nursing, and supporting nurses in their jobs
The creation of a virtual community of nurse mentors so that they remain in nursing.
and potential nurses is made possible by the in-
creased availability of electronic communications in
schools, homes, and workplaces. Nurse mentors who
CONCLUSION
The success of this program is based on a structured
do not have the time for face-to-face interaction with
approach to ensure interaction between the mentors and
students are able to provide advice, information, and
mentees. The role of the project coordinator is critical
support while sitting at their desks, workstations or at
and central to the success of the program.
home. Many of the mentors in GEM-Nursing cited
E-mentoring has many related applications that
their pleasure at the ease of being able to provide
would benefit the recruitment and retention of nurses.
public service time at their computer to help address
For example, mentor relationships established in this
the nursing shortage. They explained that it doesn’t
program could continue as students enter schools of
require attending meetings and is an easy way for a
nursing and their careers, thereby ensuring a higher rate
nurse to give quality time back to the community.
of retention in the field.
E-mentoring makes it possible for mentors to interact
Group e-mentoring is a unique approach to recruit-
with many more potential nurses.13
ment into nursing. It offers opportunities for interac-
Another benefit of electronic communication be-
tion between nurse mentors and potential nurses that
tween mentors and potential nurses includes the ability
would otherwise be difficult or impossible to achieve.
to transcend the barriers of geographical location and
Since the quality of available knowledge about nurs-
scheduling. Interaction can take place between a mentor
ing roles and careers is inadequate and even mislead-
in California and a student in New York or a mentor in
ing, e-mentoring provides an opportunity to reach
Canada and a student in Thailand. Because the interac-
potential nurses with accurate and reliable informa-
tion is asynchronous, it does not have to be scheduled
tion which will ultimately help to improve the image
ahead of time.
of the nurse.
E-mentoring also offers an attenuation of status
differences. The use of electronic interaction hides
“social cues” between higher status mentors and lower REFERENCES
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